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Re: REFLECTIONS OF A WOMAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
Karla Poewe (kpoewe@ACS.UCALGARY.CA)
Tue, 30 Aug 1994 11:32:29 MDT
I too wish to thank those of you who gave Lamont Lindstrom the
info about the Manda Cesara/Karla Poewe book. Because the book
was unusual, the editors of Academic Press argued that it should
be published under a pseudonym. They really did not quite know
what to do. I pointed out to them that a pseudonym would be
peculiar in light of the fact of the subtitle: no hiding place. I
worried that, no hiding place, which referred to the fact that we
cannot hide from the past, that field experiences have a way of
unearthing it, would be lost if a pseudonym was used. In the good
English fashion we reached a compromise. The book would come out
under a pseudonym but my real name would appear on the index
page. Unfortunately, most colleagues missed this including John
L. Wengle who read all kinds of psychological meaning into the
fact that somewhere in the book the real name appears and that
must have been something of a Freudian slip. It wasn't. When the
Cesara book was coming out I was conducting fieldwork in Namibia.
During a break from fieldwork and on my way through England I had
to read the proofs. Naturally, some things were missed. The
error which bothers me most occurs actually in the Preface p.vii,
paragraph 3. The sentence should read: When all is said and done,
the real contribution of this book may well be a theory of
understanding that incorporates within one structure the
researcher and those being researched. The - er - of researcher was missed, and
the most important meaning lost. Look, the Cesara book was/ is a
pioneer work - this at least is what some European colleagues
took it to be. As such it has its strength, but also of course
its weaknesses. One thing, however, know that the real name is
there on the index page. Sincerely, Karla Poewe.
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